Pastor's Blog

Trusting Our Father 11/11/2012

Writers note: This is usallay a lengthy writing which contains much background information which helps me to understand the text that I preach upon. I purposely post this previous to the sermon in order to keep myself grounded to the context of the text, but it is not necessarily that which I preach word for word.

May the love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and always, Amen.

Our text of meditation today is found in the Gospel of Mark 12:38-44. It comes at the end of a discourse by Jesus during which His authority was challenged by various groups of people that came to Him with questions, most of which were not designed to seek truth but were configured to trip Him up and is so doing, to discredit Him. As we approach this text it is needful and important for us to remember that Jesus came here to do the Father's will, which was to bring us back to Him into fellowship and communion that we (mankind) had enjoyed (Genesis 1,-2) before our fall into sin and death. (Genesis 3)

In our Psalm reading today we heard David share of his relationship with his Lord as His Shepherd, and in our OT reading we heard the account of the widow who provided for the man of God who was used by God to bring judgment upon King Ahab and disobedient Israel. In both cases, the care and provision of the Lord are seen as coming from Him in heaven who sees and knows all that is needed for His work to continue which includes the use of those to whom He has revealed Himself to as Lord God.

As the time drew near in which God came nearer to mankind through His incarnation (The Word becoming flesh John 1:14), a different and better revelation of Himself came to mankind. As stated earlier, Jesus came to reveal the heart of His father for His lost children and in so doing, Jesus introduced us to our Father, Previous to this the relationship between God and humanity had been not of a Father/Son relationship, but for the most part the relationship had been seen as Vineyard Keeper/Tenants,Shepherd/Sheep and King/Subject. But now as Jesus came to show us His God/our God and His Father/our Father, (John 20:17), a new day had arrived for humanity, for now our Lord God was revealing Hiimself through His Son as Our Father.........

Immediately our thoughts turn to our earthly fathers and of the blessing that they brought to us, first of all that they brought us into this world, and secondly to the best of their God given abililty served us as fathers do in providing those things which we needed to be brought to maturity of adulthood. Some of us had good fathers, some of us had fathers that did not understand what father hood was, some of us had fathers only for a short time, some of us had them for a long time and still have them....

In a spiritual sense people of Jesus' day struggled with the concept of fatherhood, I suppose, mainly because it was a new concept for them and so in their confusion, they often asked questions of Jesus. That is always a good thing to do in order to find clarification to our confusion about things. The fundamental issue, though, is always this: Are we asking questions with an openness to learning the truth, or are we asking questions in order to prove and justify our beliefs/convictions? Are we really open to being taught by those from whom we are asking questions? The underlying issue of all our questions is one of authority. By whose authority do we live? God's or our own? This is what was happening in the discussion Jesus was having with the various groups that did not believe/understand who Jesus said He was.

This discussion begins in chapter 11 after Jesus had rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, which began the Holy Week as we know it today, had cleansed the temple, cursed the fig tree and on Tuesday, the first question came, from which all questions originate: Whose authority?

Mark 11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, 28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? 29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. {question: or, thing} 30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me. 31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? 32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. 33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The three, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders believed that they were the ones with authority, so who was this man to infringe upon their authority! Their answer to Jesus' question to them shows that they were not interested in being truthfu/learningl, so Jesus did not even bother responding to their question of by whose authority He was doing these things. We understand today by looking back upon these events that He was symbolically bringing to an end to the false and hypocritical worship that had become the worship of the Jewish nation, and that which had been designed to be a shadow of the True Temple,(Himself) was now passing away. The final destruction of this would not come until 70 AD at which point the entire city of Jerusalem would be destroyed and laid to horrible destruction.

KJV Mark 12:1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. 5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. 6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. 8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. 10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

Jesus then spoke a parable concerning those who were in leadership in Jerusalem, using it to bring into their minds of the reality of the unfruitful situation. Here we see the husbandman, who is God, using servants, prophets, to reap fruit from his vineyard, but they were not received, for their message was rejected. Finally, and now we see the Father figure coming onto the scene, the son is sent, but those who saw him as one who would take away the kingdom from them, killed him......Jesus then drove home the clinching nail into their minds by referring them back to the prophecy of the Messiah from Psalm 118:22-24..They sought to lay hands on him, but true to their double minded ness, they did not dare because they feared that the people would revolt against them, But they clearly knew that He was speaking this parable about them.

Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. {penny: valuing of our money seven pence halfpenny} 16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. 17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

Next in line were certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, coming to try to trip Him up in his words. They flattered Him, said that they know He teaches the way of God in truth, and had a question for Him about paying taxes. The Herodians were a small group who were under the larger influence of Caesar and it would have been great for the Herodians if Jesus would have said that they do not have to pay to Caesar and of course the Pharisees would have Jesus right where they want Him if He would have said that one does not have to pay taxes to Caesar. They would have had him for treason and sedition against the government. But Jesus again spoke with one as having authority, for He spoke the truth of God, just as those who came to Him said.

He asked for a coin, asked them whose image and inscription was on the side on which Caesar's image was, and they answered rightly: "Caesar" He then told them to give to Caesar that which is his and to God that which is His. They marveled. Let us think on this for a moment. What did Jesus really say by what He did not say, but which was implied? Remember, the discussion is about authority, for this is what the leaders asked Jesus in the previous chapter: "By whose authority did you cleanse the temple?" What Jesus established here is that there are two spheres of government, an earthly government and a heavenly government, the latter which is called the kingdom of God. These two kingdoms are two distinct kingdoms and they should not be mingled together as one. Please read the three following Scripture references in order to see how they are differentiated as separate, but yet under the same authority. Jesus is saying that they need to render unto God the things that He, Jesus, represents, for He is the image that is on the "coin" of God. They are not hearing or seeing what He is saying to them at this point. They do not see that the He is the Father's image. They understand the fatherhood of Abraham but even then they have not followed even Abraham's example of fatherhood. (John 8:12-59)

John 18:28-37; The heavenly kingdom Romans 13; The earthly kingdom1 Timothy 2:1-7 God's desired role of the earthly kingdom in revealing his heart for the salvation of the world.

Mark 12: 18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

Next come the Sadducees, but not with a question, but with a challenge, which is the same as a question. They seem to think that in the light of the example that they give that Jesus will be trapped. But not so, for Jesus tells them that they do not know the Scriptures, speaks the truth into their minds and hearts and draws on the Old Testament happening of Moses and the burning bush experience. By telling them that God had said that He is (not was) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, He points out to them that those three live in the future resurrection for they are not dead, but are only sleeping. He tells the Sadducees that they are in error in their understandings. He spoke as one having authority.....

28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: 33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Next........one of the scribes, one of the teachers of the law, having heard the discussion had his question about which was the greatest of the commandments. He seemed to be open to hearing the truth, as he received Jesus' words as truth and for his answer Jesus told him that he answered wisely/prudently. Jesus then told him that he is getting closer to seeing what the heart of the Father is like. The scribe understood that it was love for God and for one's neighbor were more than all the outward offerings and sacrifices. His eyes were opening to seeing the heart of the Father in His Son.....This scribe seems to understand that the things of God are most important as opposed to the things of Caesar.

35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? 36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.

Now Jesus had a question for those who were in the temple, a question which would cause them to be challenged as to their ideas and convictions as to who Jesus was. In so doing Jesus reached back to the time of David and the 110th Psalm, which was written about 1000 BC...

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